rhetoric, specifically rhetoric of rage, more extensive and complete than at any previous time in American history. Prior to the era, blacks were never free to openly speak and criticize white institutions and government. Because of this new freedom to speak in open forum, internal black rage has finally been released, heard externally through unprecedented expression and demonstration.In the struggle for civil rights, the rhetoric of revolution dominates as one major theme of black rage. In his address to the 1966 graduating class at Howard University, Adam Clayton Powell, Congressman from Harlem, boldly proclaims, We are the last revolutionaries in America -- the last transfusion of freedom into the bloodstream of democracy. Because we are, we must mobilize our wintry discontent to transform the cold heart and white face of this nation (278). Rage again has evolved, this time to the height of advocating violent revolution. Maula Ron Karenga, in The Quotable Karenga, writes, Blacks live right in the heart of America. That is why we are best able to cripple this man. And once we understand our role, we wont talk revolution, well make it (196). Rooted in the bitterness of slavery, thought of rebellion and overcoming oppression has never subsided. Rage, a vehicle to express discontent, has never been absent from black-American history.While many have advocated revolution, some doubt whether a revolution, because of its impracticability, will ever become a reality. Robert F. Williams , in USA: The Potential of a Minority Revolution, writes, Is it possible for a minority revolution to succeed in powerful America? . . . Cynics [say] that to even raise such a question is insane . . . [that] violent resistance to brutal racial oppression can lead only to suicide. How do theyknow? . . . [Some said] that the American Revolution can never succeed against the military might of the crown. . . . Yes, a minority revolution hasas much, or...
